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"it turned from a casual match into an embarrassing nightmare in a split second."
***
"NICE BLOCKOUT."
Tendou said as he began laughing. Kori winced as blood trickled down onto Ushijima's shirt.
"Oh my god, I am so sorry!" Miko exclaimed.
"Are you okay? I didn't mean to do that! I really am so sorry!" Miko said frantically. Her face was flushed fully red and she was basically shaking all over.
Kori was trying to keep herself from laughing at Miko's reaction.
"It's fine." Ushijima said flatly. He began walking over to his bag and Miko frantically zipped over to hers.
"I-I have an extra towel, it's clean. You c-can use it. It's the least I could do. Seriously, I-I'm so so sorry." Miko said as she held a purple towel out to him.
At first, he didn't want to take it. He didn't want to get blood on some girl he essentially met today's towel.
But after seeing the look on her face, he decided it would be better if he just took it.
"Alright. Thanks."
He took the towel and pressed it to his face. Ushijima sat down and took out a t-shirt from his bag.
Miko was simply standing there, unknowing of what to do. Tendou and Kori were getting well acquainted with each other on the court to pass time.
"D-Do you feel okay? Do you need anything else?" Miko asked.
Ushijima looked up at her for a moment. He could see the guilt in her brown eyes and the concern in her face.
Ushijima didn't get flustered easily. He was confident, and he had an incredible amount of pride. Miko was the same. They were aces and they had a great amount of pride in themselves.
But Ushijima was getting just as flustered as Miko right now. He knew it was probably because his nose was bleeding.
"I feel fine. Don't worry." Ushijima said, fully keeping his composure.
Miko nodded and fiddled with her fingers.
"O-Okay, do they have a medic here? Do you think you should get checked out?" Miko said.
"I understand that you're worried, but I'll be okay." Ushijima said.
"I'm just glad it didn't happen the other way around. I would have probably given you a concussion." Ushijima said.
Miko suddenly became defensive. She crossed her legs and sat down next to Ushijima.
"I think I would've been okay taking one of your spikes to the face." Miko said as she crossed her arms across her chest.
"I don't think so." Ushijima said as he continued to hold the towel to his face.
"Well my spikes are pretty powerful too, are you sure you don't have a concussion?"
Tendou and Kori just watched in shame as their friends had a strange battle of confidence.
"Do you want me to have a concussion?" Ushijima asked.
Miko came down from her high of confidence and began nervously fiddling with her fingers again.
"N-No! I'm glad you're okay, I don't want you to have a concussion." Miko said.
After a second of silence, Ushijima smiled and took the towel from his face.
Tendou gasped while on the court, causing Kori to flinch.
"What, what is it?" she said frantically, hoping that Miko was alright.
"Little old Wakatoshi is smiling!"
Miko and Kori were about to head out of the gym when a voice behind them caused them to stop.
"It was wonderful meeting you! Can we expect to see you here tomorrow?" asked Tendou.
Kori eagerly nodded while Miko readjusted her jacket.
"Great, we'll see you ladies tomorrow!" Tendou and Ushijima walked away after waving for a second.
Once they reached the train station, Miko sat down on a bench and buried her face into her hands. Thankfully it was a dry trip as the rain had stopped.
"I can't believe I gave Wakatoshi Ushijima a nosebleed. I can't believe I spiked a ball right into his face!" Miko frustratedly exclaimed.
"Can cross that one off your bucket list." Kori said with a teasing chuckle.
Miko glared at Kori and shook her head.
"It's not funny! How would you like to get a spike to the face?!"
Kori immediately shut up and shook her head frantically.
"No thank you, Miss Captain. I'll take a rain check on that face spike!"
Miko felt like an idiot.
She stood in the shower with her head face down trying to process what she had really done.
A nationally known ace, one of the most known young athletes in the volleyball world...
...hit someone with the same status in the face with a spike.
She also couldn't believe that she really claimed that she would be fine taking a spike to the face from Ushijima.
It took one look at him to know that her statement was bullshit.
Sure Miko was powerful and had very prominent muscles, but Ushijima was a foot taller than her and his back was probably twice the width of hers.
Getting hit in the face by a spike from Ushijima would most definitely concuss her at the least.
"Leave it to me to stay stupid things like that out of confidence."
Ushijima slowly opened his eyes and woke from his sleep. It was now the next day and it was time for him to go on a run before morning practice.
He slowly sat up and stretched his shoulders upward. With a sigh, he released the tension in his back and let his arms fall back to the bed.
Ushijima moved his left hand up to touch his nose, which had felt very stiff when he initially woke up.
After lightly pressing on the bridge of it, he quietly winced and moved his legs to stand up.
He walked to the bathroom and flicked on the light. When he turned to the mirror he found that the bridge of his nose was terribly bruised.
He sighed with his facial expression unchanging.
"Miko Komi. From Naitoraidā. That's a powerful spike you have."
